A trial in black and white.

• Author: Gray, Kevin Alexander
• Position: FIRST PERSON SINGULAR - George Zimmerman's trial - Viewpoint essay

A FRIEND ASKED ME IF I'D BEEN KEEPING, UP WITH THE GEORGE Zimmerman trial. My immediate answer was, Not really. Watching it was really angering me." But when pressed, I had to admit I was avoiding the topic to temper my anger. I also didn't want to try to explain to the white person on the other end of the phone how it feels being black in the USA these days.

Like many others, I believe that Zimmerman is a liar, a racist, and a killer. And I believe that Trayvon Martin had every right to fight for his life with all the strength he could muster. He lost the fight for his life because his killer had a gun, and Martin had only a can of Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles.

I was a young black boy at one time, and I've raised black boys. I know what they face. I know that white supremacy does take us out at will.

When I was coming up, I would hear a young white man proclaim that he's "free, white, and twenty-one," and that meant the world was his. For black males, the benchmark is "thirty-five and still alive."

So in all honesty, I despise Zimmerman, his supporters, and every racist thing they stand for. I've seen too many victims of raw, racist power wielded by fools.

My friend, knowing me as well as she does, never took my "not really" seriously. After a few moments, I copped to the fact that I had watched most of the trial. And I told her how excruciating it was to hear the defense argue that Zimmerman had a greater right of self-defense than his victim.

That Martin's fists and the concrete sidewalk were his "deadly weapons."

That Martin was basically a "homicidal maniac."

For all Martin knew, Zimmerman could have been a Jeffrey Dahmer-type.

Yet many Zimmerman supporters will only ever see black boys and men as "dope-smoking," "gang-banging thugs" and "low-lifes" with no right to exist.

That's what Zimmerman's father, brother, and backers were saying before the start of the trial. They hired attorneys to assert their demand for white privilege. They even found Channa Lloyd, a young, black, attractive female third-year law student to sit behind them in court. Lloyd claimed in an interview that she asked defense attorney Mark O'Mara, "Is George a racist?" to which he responded, "I wouldn't work for him if he was."

Meanwhile, in his closing argument, O'Mara talked about Martin's "fist and the concrete sidewalk" being his weapons while holding up a big chunk of concrete and a picture of a living Martin shirtless.

In the months leading up to the trial, Robert Zimmerman Sr., the father of the accused, said, "Racism is flourishing at the insistence of some in the African American community." He called the Congressional Black Caucus "a pathetic, self-serving group of racists ... advancing their purely racist agenda." And that "all members of Congress should be ashamed of the Congressional Black Caucus, as should be their constituents," adding, "They are truly a disgrace to all Americans." He called NAACP President Benjamin Jealous "a racist" and said his organization "simply promotes racism and hatred for their own, primarily financial, interests" and "without prejudice and racial divide, the NAACP would simply cease to exist."

Like father, like son. Robert Zimmerman Jr., the defendant's brother, sent out a series of racist tweets and photos before the trial. He compared Martin with De'Marquise Elkins, a seventeen-year-old detained in the murder of a Georgia infant. Both pictures feature the young men "flipping the bird" at the camera, with the caption "A picture speaks a thousand words.... Any questions?" He also posted several tweets saying that "blacks" are worthy of others' fear, including: "Lib media shld ask if what these2 black teens did 2 a woman&baby is the reason ppl think blacks mightB risky."

Frank Taaffe, outspoken defender of Zimmerman, publicly said, "The stage was already...